Key features and benefits of the DMS accounts module (Microsoft Dynamics AX)

Published: March 2007
By John Deakin, DMS Accounts Consultant, Ebbon-Dacs

Just before the turn of the century, many companies made large investments in new Dealer Management Systems, to manage growth and update aging infrastructures. Many of these systems are now nearly a decade old, and are themselves burdening companies with increasingly obsolescent and inflexible technology and spiralling support costs.

Ebbon–Dacs currently use Axapta 2.5 which is still a state of the art fully-integrated and fully-centralised financial management package with plans to migrate to Dynamics AX at the earliest possible opportunity.

Axapta delivers a range of financial capabilities that can help you consolidate accounts with subsidiaries or distribution centres no matter where they are located, enabling you to make business decisions with confidence. Microsoft Dynamics AX helps your people focus on their jobs by giving them access to accounting, reporting, and detailed analysis at levels that are appropriate for their positions.

The key features of the current and future platforms are as follows:

Major Benefits for the ASP Customer

  • Centralised

    The Axapta accounting module is by its very nature a fully centralised system with the ability to report or post by branch. This is totally the opposite to most DMS’s on the market today. A traditional DMS is built up from a branch and later consolidated into Divisional or Group Accounts. The Axapta approach provides many benefits in the way that reports automatically provide an overview of your whole business with the ability to drill-down.

  • Auto-balancing / Dealership / Control Accounts

    Being at its core a centralised system, Axapta is also a self balancing system. Inter-branch transfers and recharges are simplified by means of auto-balancing entries being made in Inter-company control accounts. Axapta is built around a hierarchy which mirrors the structure of your organisation. This hierarchy will automatically account for all statutory reporting requirements with regard to Inter and Intra –Company turnover and VAT statistics.

  • Fully Integrated

    Most modern DMS’s make the claim of being fully integrated but Axapta takes this to a new level. Axapta merely captures the data and processes it reducing the need for any manual intervention. One of the key benefits of our system is that Banking is done at the front end and all monies allocated by the person dealing with the customer, thus reducing mis-allocations of cash and deposits.

  • Intuitive

    Microsoft Dynamics AX looks and works similar to Microsoft Outlook. This familiarity helps make it easier for your people to learn. You can define links to "favourite" forms and applications for each user, and provide easy access to them from individual screens.

  • Very Flexible

    The three-tier, object-oriented architecture of Microsoft Dynamics AX integrates with other Microsoft technologies, such as Microsoft SQL Server, offering you high-speed server-side performance and the capability to scale your IT infrastructure easily, so the solution can grow with your company.

    Unlike some business management systems that require you to use specialized tool sets, Microsoft Dynamics AX uses standard adapters based on SQL Server Reporting Services and the Microsoft Visual Studio. NET development system. These adapters instantly enable you to access a wide variety of industry-standard integration protocols and trained integration partners. You can use these tools to connect to the business management solutions of your business partners.

  • Long-term support and enhancement

    Microsoft has committed to enhance and support today's business management solutions until at least 2013, and will provide a clear upgrade path to future technologies.

  • Powerful reporting facilities

    You can display data in a PivotTable, and analyze it based on desired combinations of dimensions at multiple levels.

    Advanced query, available on demand, provided by Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Report Builder, enables users to drag and drop data elements onto a design canvas to create reports that contain a list, a chart, or a matrix of related data. After a report is defined, employees can view and drill down into the report from Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services Report Builder, Enterprise Portal in Microsoft Dynamics AX, or by using any other tool that can display Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services reports.

    Generate financial reports with flexible advanced reporting tools that offer multiple import and export options, including XBRL and hard copy. You can map your charts of account and dimensions into reporting structures that match your business model. Or you can aggregate figures into a framework for strategic analysis.

    Conform to Sarbanes-Oxley and IAS/IFRS regulations by providing a single integrated information source that updates in real time and that maintains the relevant financial data required by regulators.

  • Business Intelligence (BI)

    With today's increased scrutiny due to Sarbanes-Oxley and other corporate governance requirements, you need robust BI and reporting capabilities. Business users and IT staff benefit from the built-in reporting and BI in Axapta. Business users can perform queries, create reports, track business performance, analyze data, and share conclusions.

  • Ability to import data

    By employing flexible, industry standard integration protocols we are able to import data directly into the system. This frees your employees from the need for laborious and repetitive data entry. Below are examples of files we have so far successfully imported directly into Axapta.

    • Bank statement import. An electronic file is imported which greatly mechanises the Bank Reconciliation process.
    • Manufacturer price files
    • Electronic import of manufacturer invoices, warranty self billed invoices and credit notes
    • Third party payroll posting journals
    • HPI Checks
    • Postcode verification
    • Payroll
    • Bodyshop estimating software estimates and quotes
  • Ability to export data

    The integration protocols also mean that we are seamlessly able to export data from Axapta into other packages and third party systems. Again, examples currently being deployed include:

    • Manufacturers composite
    • Reporting
    • Management Accounts
    • Queries
    • Excel
    • BACS
    • E-mail / SMS
  • Automated Bank Reconciliation

    Within Axapta the protracted process of reconciling bank statements to your nominal ledger is largely automated. Using the bank statement data import discussed above and matching to the transactions on the Bank Control account using comprehensive look-ups the procedure is greatly simplified

  • Drill down facility

    To help your people focus on their jobs Axapta gives them access to accounting, reporting, and detailed analysis at levels that are appropriate for their positions by utilising Drill-Down Trees. These are enquiry structures that are bespoke to the individual user and are simple to set up with drag and drop functionality.

Conclusion

If your company is using a legacy or an outdated DMS, you face clear challenges as your technology ages and your vendors discontinue support for those applications. You must make the crucial decision whether to upgrade to the next version of your current vendor's product or use the opportunity to migrate to an offering that may better meet your changing business needs. Microsoft Dynamics AX—familiar, adaptable, and designed to be tailored to your individual requirements—is a powerful alternative if you need to upgrade from a business management solution that is becoming obsolete or has a support plan that is expiring.

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